Somewhere along the line, we, as a society, have started to accept fans yelling whatever comes to mind at players and coaches during collegiate and professional sporting events, based on the idea that they paid for a ticket.
Now, it extends beyond the arena. Today's social media gives fans 24/7 direct access to athletes without security guards or fences holding them back.
Take one of Jimmy Kimmel's most successful skits for example. It shows NBA players reading hateful tweets they've received.
Metta World Peace, an NBA player for the New York Knicks, reads the first tweet from @StoopKidSean: "What's the difference between Ron Artest and Metta World Peace? Nothing. They are both huge pieces of s***."
Apparently that's what we do now - hurl insults at athletes because of a mistake or the team they represent.
When a player receives this type of hate over social media, his or her first impulse can only lead to an ill-advised tweet back at the person, but, when it happens during the game, an impulse reaction can turn violent as quickly as the fan's decision to make a snide comment.
On Saturday night, while Memphis basketball fans enjoyed an improbable comeback by their Tigers over the then top-25 Gonzaga Bulldogs, the majority of college basketball fans across the country were consumed by a much different story - Oklahoma State's point guard Marcus Smart shoving Texas Tech's "super fan" Jeff Orr.
The push ignited social media and prompted a discussion about fan behavior amongst media personalities across the nation.
Let's make one thing clear. Athletes should never even consider going after a fan in the stands regardless of what he or she said. It's one of those things you just can't do, and Smart did just that. His team was down late in the game, and he was frustrated. Throw in a guy yelling at him, and it wasn't pretty.
But when did it become okay for Orr to yell degrading things at Smart? Would that be an acceptable thing if he ran into Smart at the grocery store or a restaurant? Of course it wouldn't be okay. So, what is it about a sporting event that gives fans the license to say anything?
No one knows what exactly Orr said. Early reports suggested racial slurs, but most of those seemed unreliable. Orr eventually apologized and claimed he called Smart "a piece of crap," denying ever using a racial slur. Smart and Orr may be the only people to ever know what was really said.
Smart apologized too, but he received something Orr won't ever get - a three-game suspension handed down by the Big 12.
The University of Memphis men's basketball team deals with these insults on a regular basis, too.
After the Tigers' 73-67 win over the University of Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center, head Memphis coach Josh Pastner vigorously refuted a Cardinals' fan who was calling Pastner's players "thugs." It was a minor non-incident, but it shows this stuff happens everywhere.
During the Tigers' 87-72 loss at Southern Methodist University on Jan. 29, the SMU crowd chanted "no means no." The chant was directed at Memphis' senior guard Michael Dixon Jr., who dealt with sexual assault accusations in 2012. Dixon was never charged with anything.
To their credit, Pastner and the Tigers have had no problems with fan interactions in his five-year stint at the U of M, despite hearing some nasty insults. However, that doesn't mean something couldn't happen if fans continue to behave worse and worse.
I'm not suggesting basketball games become a golf tournament like the Masters, where soft clapping is the only acceptable cheering. Loud arenas help make college basketball great, and it can give the home team a distinct advantage.
FedExForum was rocking for the Gonzaga game, and it was fantastic. There was no shoving, but that doesn't mean some unnecessary things were said.
Texas Tech's arena was also loud on Saturday, but it wasn't nearly as great because of one dumb sentence. The Red Raiders scored a great win over a top-25 team, but that wasn't the headline.
The problem is that there's not much of a solution other than, I don't know, maybe treating athletes like fellow human beings.
